White Sands Missile Range is a rocket range of almost 3,200 square miles area, the largest military installation in the United States. WSMR includes the Oscura Range and the WSMR Otera Mesa bombing range. WSMR and the 600,000-acre Fort Bliss Range Complex to the south form a contiguous swath of territory for military testing.

White Sands Missile Range is a Test and Evaluation Command Installation operated primarily for the support of research, development, test, and evaluation of weapon and space systems, subsystems, and components.

WSMR, established in 1945, is the largest all-overland test range in the Western Hemisphere, and is the Department of the Army's largest installation, covering approximately 2.2 million acres. With the addition of several extension areas, the range can be expanded to nearly four million acres for certain types of testing. WSMR is bordered by Fort Bliss to the south and by Holloman Air Force Base to the west.

White Sands is poised to meet the many challenges that 21st century technological advancements, acquisition reform, and force transformation will present to the Acquisition Test and Evaluation community, private industry, and research laboratories (both domestic and international).

White Sands is leading the way for distributed testing of Joint capabilities. They are focusing on integrating complex Joint capabilities into a cohesive environment that will merge live and simulated operations across many geographically-separated test ranges. White Sands continues to offer a world class Range Control facility, state of the art launch complexes, and extensive environmental test facilities and laboratories.

White Sands Missile Range Historical Foundation was organized to support the White Sands Missile Range Museum and to raise money for a permanent museum to collect and exhibit the artifacts necessary to memorialize the events, and the participants, both individual and organizational who have contributed to the outstanding achievements at White Sands Missile Range.

At the White Sands Missile Range Museum you can trace the origin of America's missile and space activity, find out how the atomic age began and learn about the accomplishments of scientists like Dr. Wernher von Braun and Dr. Clyde Tombaugh at White Sands. Displays also include the prehistoric cultures and the rip-roaring Old West found in southern New Mexico. Pictured Above is Missile Park.

CHARLESTOWN, Mass. (Jan. 14, 2008) The first major snowfall of the New Year blankets the USS Constitution. Despite the weather Old Ironside, remained open for free public tours. At 210-years-old, USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, manned by 67 active-duty United States Sailors and visited by nearly half a million visitors annually. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Eric Brown (Released)

USS Constitution's 1812 Marine Guard fire vintage Springfield flintlock muskets during the ship's underway. "Old Ironsides" was underway for the "Constitution Day Cruise," which is conducted to thank the family and supporters of Constitution. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Nick Lyman (Released)

OUR TROOPS ROCK!!!!!!!

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

One summer I was at a gathering of old high school acquaintances when someone behind me tapped me on my shoulder. As my eyes drifted over the womans name tag, my mind drifted back in time. I remembered a tightly folded note that had been shoved through the slot on my locker. It had contained cruel words of rejection that had shamed me and crushed my spirit. I remember thinking, Somebody needs to teach you a lesson on how to treat people! Although I felt as if I were reliving my adolescent pain, I mustered up my best fake smile; and insincere words began coming out of my mouth.

We began to converse. A sad story of a difficult upbringing and of an unhappy marriage began to pour out of her. As it did, the words root of bitterness from Hebrews 12:15 popped into my head. Thats what Im feeling, I thought. After all these years, I still had a deep root of bitterness hidden within me, twisting around and strangling my heart.

Then these words came to my mind: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21).

We talked. We even shared some tears. Neither of us mentioned the long-ago incident. God taught someone a lesson that afternoona lesson of forgiveness and of letting go of bitterness. He taught it to me.

Dear Lord, please help me not to harbor resentmentand bitterness in my heart. Through the powerof the Holy Spirit, enable me to let go of mybitterness and forgive those who have hurt me.

Thanks very much for tonight's Daily Bread, which resonates strongly with me. Over twenty years ago, I had been estranged from my brother for many years. I was with the family one evening for dinner and had car trouble. He offered to help and I blew him off. As I was driving home I was speaking to my wife and I realized I had forgotten why I was so angry with him. I called him on my cell phone and apologized. He was, I think, astounded. We have been in harmony ever since.

Keep Faith with the Fallen of Benghazi! Let the Obama Regime, for once, tell the Truth!

Fiat Justitia, Ruat Coelum!

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

"A visit to the Organ Mountains and Aguirre Springs right next door is an absolute must!"

Indeed.

On TDY to WSMR, we hiked a long trail up into the Organs that started at the golf course. There was a long abandoned gold mine complete with crusher, rails and an almost filled in mine entrance. Packed out some neat rocks with tiny gold specks in them. But it was a slog, don't think I could do it now!

19
posted on 02/04/2013 6:43:13 PM PST
by SnuffaBolshevik
(In a tornado, even turkeys can fly.)

I had a somewhat contentious day. We are locked in combat with Insurance Company bean-counters over health coverage for my son David. I once worked for a stinking insurance company as a claims attorney. Their motto is "We will pay no claim before its time."

Our powder is dry.

I went up to Baltimore this afternoon for another Cortisone injection in the lumbar spine. It went quite well. Now if I could just manage to get the MRI of my cervical spine done, things would be great. Most of my pain now is upper back and shoulder. This doctor is light years ahead of those I have gone to in the past for this problem.

We're at 31 degrees right now - it's supposed to stay the same through the night. We were supposed to get a little snow but it appears to have passed us by.

Keep Faith with the Fallen of Benghazi! Let the Obama Regime, for once, tell the Truth!

Fiat Justitia, Ruat Coelum!

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

This Nation is dearer to me than my own life. I fought for it willingly and proudly, as my ancestors have done since the American Revolution, and as members of my family continue to do to this very day.

Memorial to Battery "C", 5th U.S. Artillery at Gettysburg, PA My 3-greats grandfather, Cpl. William Murphy, was wounded by shrapnel at the Clump of Trees in Picketts Charge, July 3, 1863.

In the Second World War my Father, who enlisted in the Navy on his eighteenth birthday, my Father-in-Law, a Marine, and a veritable platoon of my Uncles and Great Uncles served in the Army, The Army Air Force, The Navy and the Marine Corps, in the American Theatre, in the Pacific, and in Europe.

My Father was called up from the Reserves for the Korean War and served on board the USS Borie, DD-704 as a Radioman Third Class in the combat zone. The Borie was part of the armada that participated in the Hungnam Evacuation in December, 1950. He earned a commission as a Medical Service Corps Officer by examination in 1951 and remained in the Navy until his retirement in 1969.

In my youth, I spilled my blood for it on the Field of Battle, in a far-off land, in a war that was scorned by many of my contemporaries, a war in which we were victorious in every major engagement on the field, and a war in which we were betrayed by a coterie of spineless politicos, by The Fifth Column that masquerades as the media, by Academia, and by the Hollywood elite.

I was joined in that cause by my Father, who had boots on the ground in-country on several occasions in the early 60s. I was likewise joined by several cousins in the Navy, Army, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

In my old age, the jackals gather again, seeking once more to steal a victory won by another generation of Americans, seeking to change our Nation into a Socialist State in which we are all tools of the collective rather than free men and women, a State in which we will be little more than subjects rather than free and proud citizens. They seek by every artifice, scheme and fraud known to man to undo the American Revolution.

Though I am old and weak, I would willingly fight for our Beloved Nation once again, and, if necessary, give my life for it if doing so would advance the cause of Liberty.

I say this without boast or apology  I am no better or worse than the millions of American men and women who have answered the Nations call, and I am no hero. I am simply one of millions of Americans who did his or her duty when called upon by the Nation to do so. Many of my Comrades-in-Arms join in posting on this Forum.

The consequences of the recent election are unfolding on a daily basis. Those consequences include an intensified attack on our basic Freedoms, an increasing tax burden on the middle class and small business, and an increasingly aggressive endorsement of the Gay Agenda with its concomitant attack on traditional marriage and our dearly held family values.

Now is not the time for despair; it is not the time for surrender. Now is rather the time to reaffirm with resolve our core values: individual liberty, self-reliance and personal responsibility, honoring the traditional family, the sanctity of human life, Love of God and Country, and Courage in the face of great Peril. These are the values that made this Nation great, the values that sustained it through over two centuries of wars, economic upheaval and civil unrest. These are the values that are anathema to the left, the values that contemporary society has largely abandoned, and the values that we must proclaim anew.

There are those who say they will discourage their sons and daughters from serving in our military because of the repeal of Dont Ask Dont Tell and the advance of the Gay Agenda under this Regime. This course of action will ensure the imminent subversion and effective dismantling of our military. I will not countenance the relinquishment of our splendid military to a pack of perverts. My family has served since the Revolution, we serve now, and we will serve in the future. My youngest son, John Man, is bent on becoming a Marine, and I will give him every encouragement to stand in the yellow footprints and follow in a long and honorable tradition.

Many now advocate secession from the Union. Secession is not the answer, even if it could be accomplished. This is the greatest Nation to emerge in the long history of this planet, and it will endure the abuses of the present Regime, survive and flourish in Freedom again!

More to the point, this is MY Country  and yours! Here I am and here I stay! I am not willing to abandon it to the Leftist traitors now in power or to any other enemies, domestic or foreign. I took an oath when I shipped on forty-five years ago to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic  that oath binds me today and will bind me until I die.

"Will shall be the sterner, heart the keener, Spirit shall be the greater as our might lessens."

(Battle of Maldon  lines 313-314)

KNOW THIS: I will not sit idly by while Marxists, atheists, perverts and traitors work relentlessly to sabotage the heroic efforts and sacrifices of over two centuries of Patriots, to rip away our basic Freedoms, and to bring this great Nation to its knees.

May God continue to Bless and Protect the United States of America  A Beacon of Freedom shining through the darkness of a World beset by Tyranny!

May God Bless and Protect our Gallant Troops of all Services  men and women - combat and non-combat  of whatever MOS. By virtue of their service and sacrifice we continue to enjoy the benefits of Freedom!

With the help of Almighty God, may the Right and our Beloved Nation prevail!

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

Thanks very much, Kathy! One of the few things I am ashamed of in my life is that I had to work for those soulless bastards! They will do anything to chisel a nickel out of a legitimate claim. They are beneath contempt!

Keep Faith with the Fallen of Benghazi! Let the Obama Regime, for once, tell the Truth!

Fiat Justitia, Ruat Coelum!

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

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